BE Tournament Game Thread: Xavier vs. Villanova (March 15, 2019)

[Xville]

I am happy that I witnessed this team show off their top 30 talent and execution to the BE teams and nation.
Hope they can make it back to MSG in NIT and show some fans their DEFENSE and roster is solid.

All this Q bashing is similar to the Dee Davis bashing. Q is a big guard who plays great defense and is good with the ball in March. He rebound well but he is no Steve Nash.
Shooting will not be his forte but if he is left wide open and the ball comes to him in rhythm, I have no problem with him shooting. He was stuck with the ball often last night as shot clock had 8 seconds. He did find Hankins often with 2-3 seconds on shot clock to lay it in. He knows what he is doing.

He gets bashed because the pg is the QB of the team and decision making is absolutely critical at that position, as well as finishing late in the shot clock. We have seen extraordinary point guards and whether fair or not, q and dee are always going to be compared to the likes of tu, lavender, Chalmers (during the run) etc, and quite frankly he doesnt compare to that at all. Is that fair to him for some of us fans to make those comparisons? No, but that's life and if we want xavier to get to that final 2%, either he needs to be better, or we need someone more talented at that position. Sorry but that's reality.

[Xavier]

I think last night the game plan played into a lot of hero ball for Q. We waited and waited to get into the offense to slow the game down (most of the time in the second half just barely getting it over half court in time). Once we got into the play if it didn't work (most of the time it didn't) they didn't have time to draw anything up and got the ball in Q's hands with 7 second left.

From my eye Q did get better over the course of the season with his horrible turnovers. Unfortunately for him, he had a couple big ones late in the game last night. I won't blame him for a lot of the hero ball at the end of the shot clock, though.

[SlimKibbles]

The telling people how to be a fan on this board has got to stop.

You’re right. I apologize if that is what I was doing. I haven’t been on XH and posted really at all since the fallout from Mack leaving and bashing players during this season. Some folks and their posts just turned me off. Maybe they are being passionate fans and I’m not as much of one. I’ve been going to X games since I was 12 (31 years) and love following the team but never felt the need to bash players on social media or wish for failure on a hometown coach leaving his alma mater. Just the way I’m wired as a fan I guess.

[scoscox]

I think last night the game plan played into a lot of hero ball for Q. We waited and waited to get into the offense to slow the game down (most of the time in the second half just barely getting it over half court in time). Once we got into the play if it didn't work (most of the time it didn't) they didn't have time to draw anything up and got the ball in Q's hands with 7 second left.

From my eye Q did get better over the course of the season with his horrible turnovers. Unfortunately for him, he had a couple big ones late in the game last night. I won't blame him for a lot of the hero ball at the end of the shot clock, though.

I agree. As good as Paul was and is, he needs to be a little more selfish/assertive at times. He should be the one with the ball in his hands there.

Tandy is going to be so great next year because we'll finally have a legitimate back up for q. we haven't had a backup point since edmond went down his freshman year. it'll be nice to have an option for when q doesn't have it. 2 and a half years with only 1 point guard on the roster is way too long.

[scoscox]

Something that needs to be a point of emphasis moving forward against nova is secondary boxouts. they got a ton of offensive boards from secondary players against us in all three games this year. hopefully we can fix that

[X Factor]

If he can shoot 3's he could definitely start in a 3 guard offense though with a faster pace since we will have depth to run.

There are only 5 teams in KenPom Top 20 who have an ADJ Tempo in the Top 100. I'm glad Steele slowed down the pace this year, even if it was out of necessity.

I hope he keeps the tempo slower going forward.

[GIMMFD]

I dont know why, but this loss is really staying with me. Maybe it's because I hate that hankins will never get a taste of the tourney, maybe it's because I wanted this so bad for Steele, maybe it's because I wanted to stick to Mack for leaving and letting him know we will be better without him. Whatever it is, this loss really really stings and I was at the game against Wisconsin a couple of years ago. That sucked but for some odd reason, this feels worse.

I think it's the adversity the team faced, where they were at, and how they responded. A couple years ago against Wisky was a punch in the gut, it was a brutal way to lose, but that team was damn good. Along with last year, a team that didn't face much adversity. It hurt last night because they were so close to being on the brink of something special, if Naji was even close to normal, or a couple stops here and there. It hurts because we have guys like Hankins who give their all and deserved a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. It sucks because Steele was finally getting into a little bit of a groove, becoming a better coach and game planner. It sucked because that team was literally 3-8 at one point in conference play but rallied together and make the last few weeks enjoyable. Definitely a tough loss to palate, but at least we're set up well for the future. I'm excited for Tandy and Bishop to get here, I'm excited to see how much better Naji and Scruggs get through another off-season (post NIT of course), so I'm trying to stay positive but you're right, it does sting a bit.

[Xville]

You’re right. I apologize if that is what I was doing. I haven’t been on XH and posted really at all since the fallout from Mack leaving and bashing players during this season. Some folks and their posts just turned me off. Maybe they are being passionate fans and I’m not as much of one. I’ve been going to X games since I was 12 (31 years) and love following the team but never felt the need to bash players on social media or wish for failure on a hometown coach leaving his alma mater. Just the way I’m wired as a fan I guess.

I was speaking more to how to feel about the nit...nothing more.

[scoscox]

Can't get over how good paul was. 28 points on 14 shots, 11 boards, 7 assists, a near triple double on nova in the semis at the garden. incredible. they had no answer.

we also need to invest in some heavy duty ankle braces for naji. tired of ankle injuries to him affecting our postseasons

[paulxu]

I'm a glass half full guy. When it gets halfway down...I refill it.
So it's taken a day to collect my thoughts.
I cannot get over being upset that we didn't play Creighton tonight. I think we'd have won.

The Nova game was one that will haunt me as long as OSU and Duke.
How two of our top three scorers, who give us 25 per game, came up with 6, I'll probably never understand.
The fact that neither one of them drew a shooting foul is positively baffling. Hardly happened all year.
We can win a game without Q (Georgetown and Butler) but I'm OK with him as a PG if he plays like one.
When you are 0 fer shooting the 3...stop shooting the damn 3. Be a real PG.

Sorry. Just hard to take. That bogus call on Naji at the end keeps replaying in my mind, over and over. Cost us the game.
I know people go on and on about one call doesn't make a difference, that you shouldn't be in that position, yada yada yada.
I don't give a crap. If one made basket in the last 2 seconds gives a team the win, that basket won the game.
That call cost us the game. Period. It should have been a blocking call with Naji at the line.

Sorry again.